Since 2013, participating organisations have been able to conduct the survey as a census or extended sample and this option is increasingly being adopted. As a result, over 624,000 staff across 287 organisations were invited to take part in the 2014 survey, more than 200,000 extra staff compared to 2013.

Over 255,000 staff responded to the 2014 survey, a response rate of 42% (compared to around 203,000 respondents in 2013 and a response rate of 49%).

All full-time and part-time staff who were directly employed by an NHS organisation on September 1st 2014 were eligible to respond. The fieldwork for the survey was carried out between late September and early December 2014.

The survey results are published for individual questions and for 29 Key Findings that have been designed to give more information about particular areas of interest. Of the 29 Key Findings, 11 have shown improvement since 2013, 1 remained the same, 15 have deteriorated and 2 cannot be compared due to changes in the questions.